Half-back Luke Brooks was also placed on report for dropping his knees on Manly forward Jack Gosiewski, sparking an early-match melee.

Benji Marshall offered the only real bright spark, putting on a perfect ball out the back for David Nofoaluma to score the Tigers' sole first-half try while Brooks crossed for a late consolation four-pointer.

The result means the joint venture will likely need to win their last three games to maintain any hope of breaking an eight-year finals drought.

In the most important game of the Tigers' season, they were barely given a sniff by a Sea Eagles side who had dropped just two games this year at Brookvale.